Colleen Baran is a jeweller, artist and designer living and working in Greater Vancouver. She has exhibited in galleries and museums in 11 countries and been published in a few more. Recent publications include the books 500 Wedding Rings (Lark Books), 500 Plastic (also Lark Books) and Kirtsy Takes a Bow (which was in InStyle’s 2009 Christmas gift guide). She’s also won awards for jewellery and photography, both locally and internationally.

Each piece of Bella-Bijou jewellery has a story behind it on how it came to be. That story is often the inspiration which brought the design to the forefront of designer and metalsmith, Jaime Pickering’s mind. What we think is neat is that Jaime intends each story to be a means to connect the jewellery piece to its new owner. Jaime tells us that her designs come to her in dreams! She plans them out backwards – thinking of the finished product first, then the steps to take to create her vision.

Spark Jewelry designer, Christina Hidalgo started her business just before she was about to embark on the biggest change of her life – having her son Diego. A small baby in tow didn’t slow Christina down though – when Diego was only a couple of months old she started selling in stores, art galleries and markets. Three years later her business is still growing and developing. Christina constantly strives to create unique, imaginative, and economical pieces of wearable art from argentium sterling silver, 14kt gold fill wire and the occasional splash of coloured crystals or gemstones.

Jennifer Ellis is a 25-year-old self-taught jewellery designer. She lives and works in her home studio with her two crazy dogs. Jewellery inspires individuals to dance, love, and give. Jennifer hopes her jewellery allows you to share in this experience.

Barrie Edwards wears many hats in her day-to-day life; from wife to mother to grandmother to event coordinator to instructor to designer but her passion for jewellery has been her guiding force for many years. Tucked away in her basement studio, she hand fabricates all her one-of-a-kind and limited edition jewellery designs. She and her husband of 28 years share their home with their youngest of four sons, two dogs, seven cats, two parrots, many lizards, and lots of fish – fresh and saltwater! She is often inspired by the colours and textures of the mini-zoo she lives with.

Rosemary Bartram is a local jewellery designer who is passionate not only about jewellery, but also traveling, gardening and above all her family. She founded Era Design Modern and Vintage Jewellery in 2003 with the goal of offering Vancouverites an alternative to the typical fine jewellery experiences available at that time. She has since cultivated a loyal core of clients whose enthusiasm and word-of-mouth referrals has established Era as one of Vancouver’s favorite Jewellery boutiques.

“Judi Patson of even design creates very innovative work! I’ve never seen anything like it.” says Vancouver jewellery designer Fiona Louie of Filou Designs.

Designing jewellery is Judi Patson’s eighth career. Like the previous seven – which ranged from First Assistant Film Director to professional laugher – it began as a whim. Unlike the previous seven, designing jewellery for her company Even Design has become her passion, right after cookies.

Filou Designs is a jewellery line created by Fiona Louie, who transforms her original sketches into handcrafted solid sterling silver and 24K gold vermeil wearable works of art. Fiona’s pieces are a reflection of her experiences and imagination, highly influenced by her travels and beautiful west coast surroundings.

Gilliauna Davis of Bits n Beads is a self-taught jewellery designer whose life since childhood has been influenced by artisan endeavours and filled a healthy dose of encouragement for creativity. Colour has always been a great inspiration for her, and this is reflected in her life as well as in every piece of jewellery she makes. With a creative process that’s based half on creativity and half on instinct, each colourful piece she designs has a vibrant personality all its own.